Head to www.savemyexams.

com for more awesome resources

Cambridge (CIE) O Level Your notes

Computer Science
Methods of Error Detection
Contents
Error Checking
Error Detection Methods
Check Digits
Automatic Repeat Query (ARQ)

Page 1 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Error Checking
Your notes
Why Errors Occur
Why do errors occur?
Errors can occur using wired or wireless technology due to interference
Examples of interference include wire degradation or electrical fields changing the signal
Results of interference include:
Data loss - data is lost in transmission
Data gain - additional data is received
Data change - some bits have been changed or flipped
Wireless technology uses radio signals or other electromagnetic signals to transmit data
These signals can be blocked by physical barriers such as buildings, walls, cars or other objects
Interference can be caused by bad weather such as rain or clouds, or by other wireless signals or
electromagnetic radiation
Wired technology carries more chance of causing an error as physical components can be damaged,
degrade or receive interference from outside signals
Data loss can also occur from interruptions to data transmission such as a blocked signal or if the
transmission is intermittent

Why check for errors?

Computers expect data in certain formats
A format is a way of arranging the data so that it can be easily understood by people and by
computers
People agree to certain formats so that systems work more efficiently and there is little chance of
misunderstanding each other
An example of a format is date and time
Date and time can have multiple formats such as:
13/04/14 (DD/MM/YY)
12/31/2020 (MM/DD/YYYY)

Page 2 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Jul-04-16 (MMM/DD/YY)
If data is not as expected, things can go wrong
Your notes
For example, if a receiver expected to receive a date in format DD/MM/YY as 03/04/17 but received
04/03/17, did the sender mean 3rd April 2017 or 4th March 2017?
An error or corruption occurs when data received is not as expected and therefore is difficult or
impossible to process

WORKED EXAMPLE
Alex receives an email over a wireless connection from a work colleague containing an important
document.
Identify what interference Alex could experience when sending this email and identify the
outcomes of interference.
Further explain why Alex should check to make sure the document contains no errors.
[4]
Answer
Weather conditions or physical barriers such as building can affect signals, for example bits
could be flipped in the document making it hard to understand the original meaning [1]
Alex should be aware that interference can cause wirelessly received data to contain errors or
corruption [1]
Data could be lost, additional data could be gained or data could be changed [1]
As Alex received an important work document they need to check for errors so that their work is
unaffected and they do not receive incorrect information [1]

Page 3 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Error Detection Methods

Your notes
Parity Check
What is a parity check?
A parity check determines whether bits in a transmission have been corrupted
Every byte transmitted has one of its bits allocated as a parity bit
The sender and receiver must agree before transmission whether they are using odd or even parity
If odd parity is used then there must be an odd number of 1’s in the byte, including the parity bit
If even parity is used then there must be an even number of 1’s in the byte, including the parity bit
The value of the parity bit is determined by counting the number of 1’s in the byte, including the parity
bit
If the number of 1’s does not match the agreed parity then an error has occurred
Parity checks only check that an error has occurred, they do not reveal where the error(s) occurred

Even parity
Below is an arbitrary binary string

EVEN Byte
Parity bit

0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

If an even parity bit is used then all bits in the byte, including the parity bit, must add up to an even
number
There are four 1’s in the byte
This means the parity bit must be 0 otherwise the whole byte, including the parity bit, would add up
to five which is an odd number

Odd parity
Below is an arbitrary binary string

Page 4 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

ODD Byte
Parity bit
Your notes
1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

If an odd parity bit is used then all bits in the byte, including the parity bit, must add up to an odd
number
There are four 1’s in the byte. This means the parity bit must be a 1 otherwise the whole byte,
including the parity bit, would add up to four which is an even number
The table below shows a number of examples of the agreed parity between a sender and receiver and
the parity bit used for each byte

Example # Agreed parity Parity bit Main bit string Total number of 1’s

#1 ODD 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 5

#2 EVEN 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2

#3 EVEN 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 6

#4 ODD 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 5

#5 ODD 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 5

#6 EVEN 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 4

Example #1: The agreed parity is odd. All of the 1’s in the main bit string are added (5). As this number is
odd already the parity bit is set to 0 so the whole byte stays odd
Example #2: The agreed parity is even. All of the 1’s in the main bit string are added (1). As this number is
odd the parity bit is set to 1 to make the total number of 1’s even (2)
Example #6: The agreed parity is even. All of the 1’s in the main bit string are added (4). As this number is
even already the parity bit is set to 0 so the whole byte stays even

How do errors occur?

When using parity bits, an error occurs when the number of total bits does not match the agreed
parity

Page 5 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Bits can be flipped or changed due to interference on a wire or wirelessly due to weather or other
signals
Your notes
Example # Agreed parity Parity bit Main bit string Total number of 1’s Error

#1 ODD 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 6 Error

#2 EVEN 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 No error

#3 EVEN 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Error

#4 ODD 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 5 No error

#5 ODD 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 6 Error

#6 EVEN 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 Error

Parity checks are quick and easy to implement but fail to detect bit swaps that cause the parity to
remain the same

Parity Byte & Block Check

What are parity byte & block checks?
Parity blocks and parity bytes can be used to check an error has occurred and where the error is
located
Parity checks on their own do not pinpoint where errors in data exist, only that an error has occurred
A parity block consists of a block of data with the number of 1’s totalled horizontally and vertically
A parity byte is also sent with the data which contains the parity bits from the vertical parity
calculation
Below is a parity block with a parity byte at the bottom and a parity bit column in the second column

ODD Parity bit Bit 2 Bit 3 Bit 4 Bit 5 Bit 6 Bit 7 Bit 8

Byte 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1

Byte 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

Page 6 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Byte 3 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1
Your notes
Byte 4 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1

Byte 5 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

Byte 6 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0

Byte 7 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0

Byte 8 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0

Parity byte 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

The above table uses odd parity

Each byte row calculates the horizontal parity as a parity bit as normal
Each bit column calculates the vertical parity for each row, the parity byte
It is calculated before transmission and sent with the parity block
Each parity bit tracks if a flip error occurred in a byte while the parity byte calculates if an error
occurred in a bit column
By cross referencing both horizontal and vertical parity values the error can be pinpointed
In the above example the byte 3 / bit 5 cell is the error and should be a 0 instead
The error could be fixed automatically or a retransmission request could be sent to the sender

Checksum
What is a checksum?
Checksums determine if data has been corrupted but do not reveal where
Data is sent in blocks and an additional checksum value is added at the end of the block
Checksums are custom, user-created algorithms that perform mathematical calculations on data
An example of a custom checksum algorithm in computer science is:
A checksum byte is defined as a value between 1 and 255 which is stored in 8 bits

Page 7 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

8 bits are collectively known as a byte

If the sum of all of the bytes of a transmitted block of data is <= 255 then the checksum value is Your notes
the sum of all of the bytes
If the sum of all of the bytes is > 255 then the checksum is calculated with an algorithm:
X = sum of all of the bytes
Y = X / 256
Round down Y to nearest whole number
Z = Y * 256
Checksum = X - Z
Custom Checksum Walkthrough
If X = 1496
Y = 1496 / 256 = 5.84
Rounded down Y = 5
Z = 5 * 256 = 1280
Checksum = 1496 - 1280 = 216
The checksum value in this example would be 216
When a block of data is to be transmitted, the checksum is first calculated and then transmitted with
the rest of the data
When the data is received the checksum value is calculated based on the received data and
compared to the checksum value received
If they are the same then the data does not contain any errors
If an error does occur then a resend request is sent and the data is retransmitted

WORKED EXAMPLE
Describe the process a checksum algorithm uses to determine if an error has occurred
[5]
Answer
Before data is transmitted a checksum value is calculated [1]
The checksum value is transmitted with the data [1]

Page 8 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

The receiver calculates the checksum value using the received data [1]
The calculated checksum is compared to the transmitted checksum [1]
If they are the same then there is no error otherwise an error has occurred [1] Your notes

Echo Check
What is an echo check?
An echo checks involve transmitting the received data back to the sender
The sender then checks the data to see if any errors occurred during transmission
This method isn’t reliable as an error could have occurred when the sender transmits the data or
when the receiver transmits the data
If an error does occur the sender will retransmit the data

WORKED EXAMPLE
Four 7-bit binary values are transmitted from one computer to another.
A parity bit is added to each binary value creating 8-bit binary values. All the binary values are
transmitted and received correctly.
(a) Identify whether each 8-bit binary value has been sent using odd or even parity by writing odd or
even in the type of parity column.

8-bit binary value Type of parity

01100100

10010001

00000011

10110010

[4]
(b) An error may not be detected when using a parity check.
Identify why an error may not be detected.
[1]
Answers
(a)

Page 9 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

8-bit binary value Type of parity

01100100 Odd [1] Your notes

10010001 Odd [1]

00000011 Even [1]

10110010 Even [1]

(b)
Any one from:
there is a transposition of bits [1]
it does not check the order of the bits (just the sum of 1s/0s) [1]
even number of bits change [1]
incorrect bits still add up to correct parity [1]

Page 10 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Check Digits
Your notes
Check Digits
What is a check digit?
A check digit is used to determine if data has been corrupted but does not reveal where
Data is sent in blocks and an additional check digit value is added at the end of the block
Check Digits are custom, user-created algorithms that perform mathematical calculations on data
Examples of where check digits can be used include:
ISBN book numbers
Barcodes

ISBN book numbers

Each book has a unique ISBN number that identifies the book
A standard ISBN number may be ten digits, for example, 965-448-765-9
The check digit value is the final digit (9 in this example).
This number is chosen specifically so that when the algorithm is completed the result is a whole number
(an integer) with no remainder parts
A check digit algorithm is performed on the ISBN number and if the result is a whole number then the
ISBN is valid

Barcodes
Barcodes consist of black and white lines which can be scanned using barcode scanners
Barcode scanners shine a laser on the black and white lines which reflect light into the scanner
The scanner reads the distance between these lines as numbers and can identify the item
Barcodes also use a set of digits to uniquely identify each item
The final digit on a barcode is usually the check digit, this can be used to validate and authenticate an
item

WORKED EXAMPLE
Check digit algorithms are used to determine whether an error has occurred in transmitted data.

Page 11 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

State the names of two examples of a check digit algorithm.

[2] Your notes
Answer
ISBN [1]
Barcode [1]

Page 12 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Automatic Repeat Query (ARQ)

Your notes
Automatic Repeat reQuests(ARQ)
What is an automatic repeat request(ARQ)?
An automatic repeat request is a protocol that notifies the sender that an error has occurred and that
the data received is incorrect
It works as follows:
If an error is detected the receiver sends a negative acknowledgement transmission to indicate
the data is corrupted
If no error is detected the receiver sends a positive acknowledgement transmission meaning the
data is correct
If the receiver does not send any acknowledgement transmission then the sender waits for a
certain time period known as a time-out before automatically resending the data
This process is repeated until all data has been received and acknowledged

EXAM TIP
In this specification ARQ is referred to as Automatic Repeat Query but in past exam questions it has
been referred to as Automatic Repeat reQuests
Both words are interchangeable and should not cause any confusion!

WORKED EXAMPLE
Explain how Automatic Repeat reQuests (ARQ) are used in data transmission and storage
[2]
Answer
Any two from:
Set of rules for controlling error checking/detection // it’s an error detection method // used to
detect errors
Uses acknowledgement and timeout
Request is sent (with data) requiring acknowledgement
If no response/acknowledgment within certain time frame data package is resent
When data received contains an error a request is sent (automatically) to resend the data

Page 13 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
 Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

The resend request is repeatedly sent until packet is received error free/limit is
reached/acknowledgement received
Your notes

Page 14 of 14

© 2015-2024 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers